In a summer of handset debuts that already includes the Palm Pre, Apple’s iPhone 3GS, and soon, Research in Motion’s BlackBerry Tour 9630, add one more: The myTouch 3G, T-Mobile’s second Google Android phone. The carrier officially introduced the device today and said customers can begin reserving it on July 8.
Palm picked a hell of a day to launch the Pre. Two days before Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference. Two days before the unveiling of the iPhone 3G S, a new version of Apple’s iconic handset that runs twice as fast as its predecessor, shoots video with an improved three megapixel camera and boasts longer battery life and greater storage. And worst of all, two days prior to the announcement of a new $99 price point for the iPhone 3G, a disruptive move that puts the device in reach of far more consumers.
If/when Apple uncrates its next-generation iPhone at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June, it will be identical to its predecessor in physical design and boast only a few modest upgrades. This according to the latest rumor making the rounds, which describes the new device as a near “repeat” of the iPhone 3G.
As we head into the summer iPhone refresh cycle, the Mac rumor sites are fast pulling together a wire-and-string outline of what the device might look like. Last week brought with it reports that iPhone ’09, or whatever it might be called, will sport a 3.2 megapixel camera. Now comes news that it may support 802.11n wireless connectivity and video editing as well.
Sun and IBM reportedly prepare for a Monday announcement. Plus, Stephen Colbert on Twitter, iPhone camera rumors, and YouTube’s 2009 losses. (April 3)
Market source reports from Taiwanese trade mags are best taken with a grain of salt, if not an entire salt flat–particularly if they concern Apple. That said, claims today that Cupertino has ordered a bunch of 3.2-megapixel CMOS image sensors for its next-generation iPhone seem entirely reasonable, if only because the device’s current camera is so poor.
It looks to be some Moreauian chimera of iPhone and Pre, but Motorola’s new QA4 Evoke seems a far slicker handset than most we’ve seen from the company lately. Odd then that it’s to make its debut on a flat-rate carrier like Cricket.
Though it made no mention of a next-generation handset at its iPhone OS 3.0 preview last week, Apple is clearly hard at work on one. And if history is any guide, the company will bring it to market sometime in mid-June just as it did the iPhone 3G last year. And if history is any guide, this new iPhone will be a great improvement over its predecessor. So “100 percent confirmed” reports leaking out of AT&T claiming Cupertino is doing exactly that aren’t all that interesting.
Technically, the term refers to the frenzied flow of games and the intensity of the contenders for the NCAA Championship crown. But the NCAA doesn’t have a corner on “March Madness”–those descriptors work well in other instances, too. To wit:
In September 2006, a three-minute video featuring a group of teenagers harassing a boy with Down Syndrome was posted to Google Video Italia. Notified of it presence, Google quickly removed the video. But not quickly enough. The clip was viewed some 12,000 times before it was pulled. Enough times to inspire a two-year investigation and now, the trial of four Google executives on criminal charges of defamation and breach of privacy. Talk about blaming the tool for the way it is used….
CEOs and Palm evangelists convinced that the company’s new Pre handset is anything more than table stakes at the handset poker game would do well to consider two bits of Apple news and rumor that suggest Cupertino may be hard at work on a next-generation handset capable of mercilessly beating all others into sobbing submission.
Palm bet the company on a new handset today. It’s called the Palm Pre, though given the company’s faltering business, a better name for it would have been the Palm Hail Mary. It seems a slick little device. But is it formidable enough to stand its ground next to Apple’s iPhone? Palm certainly seems to think so. In fact, the company is so confident in the Pre that CEO Ed Colligan seems to think it won’t need a sub-$200 price point to pull market share from Apple.
An appreciative Phil Schiller welcomes the crowd and thanks everyone for showing up. He says it’s an incredibly exciting time for Apple, and offers a quick overview of Apple’s new retail stores. Says Schiller: This year’s Macworld will be all about the Mac. I’ve got three new things to tell you about. Subject No. 1 is iPhoto.
There’s a new beachhead in Amazon’s campaign to commandeer sales from competing retailers: Apple’s iPhone. This morning the retailer uncrated Amazon Mobile, an iPhone/iPod Touch application that allows users to browse its wares and those of associated retailers like Target and Macy’s. The app supports Amazon’s standard features as well as an intriguing, but totally cumbersome, new one.
John Paczkowski has been poking fun at the tech industry and the personalities that drive it since 1997. From 1999 to 2007, he wrote the award-winning tech news Web log Good Morning Silicon Valley for the San Jose Mercury News, Silicon Valley's daily newspaper. Read more »
Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.
Best use of the Beeker “meee” ever.
While the technology behind the Telephone is new, the design is reassuringly old-fashioned, reminiscent of a phrenologist’s horn or ear-candle in form. We found the experience far more comfortable than the one we had with the Telegraph.
12:58 AM: Breakfast: Two schools of fish from Tokyo Bay. Calories: 782,000. How I was feeling when I ate this: confused, irradiated, hating my size.
11:37 AM: Exercise: “Taxi Stomp” (alternating legs, for 30 blocks). Calories burned: 148,900,183.
1983. The Beatles announce their first tour in thirteen years, but likewise announce that Michael Jackson will be going on tour with them as a one gigantic mega-concert event.
Best video mashup ever.
A Facebook Memorial
Wow.
Worth it for the Rickrolling photo alone.
Excellent.
Flughumor!
D is unlike any other executive conference. Since its debut in 2003, D has brought to life the energy and excitement of the digital revolution in an unscripted, upfront and unparalleled way. Read more »
Don't miss a post! Sign up for our Daily Email and get AllThingsD.com delivered each day.
Get columns, blogs and video from D and All Things Digital on your iPhone. Download now »
